‘It was already written.’ How USC center Jonah Monheim became the Trojans’ leader

The last three USC centers were floating down Whitefish River last July, marveling at the Montana mountains, when suddenly Brett Neilon and his tube went careening into the river bank.

The tube couldn’t be salvaged. What was once a lazy river float became a slapstick rescue mission for Justin Dedich and Jonah Monheim, the two centers who followed Neilon at USC. When they finally saved Neilon — and had a good laugh at his expense — he was relegated to a spare floatie, which was otherwise meant for the beer cooler.

He didn’t mind. It was the perfect sort of getaway for the trio, the kind of story they could tell over cold beer years later. They already had so many of those stories, and the fourth trip to Montana would add more moments, from late-night bonfires in a place where the sun sets at midnight to Fleetwood Mac carpool karaoke. But it was getting harder to find the time for such outings, with their lives now headed in different directions.

Neilon, who started 43 games at center for USC, was onto his next chapter, working in business development with the Rex Seaside Steakhouse in Redondo Beach. Dedich inked a deal with the Rams as an undrafted free agent, still in the thick of pursuing his NFL dream. And Monheim was soon to start at center for USC, finally taking his place at the position everyone had always agreed suited him best.

The three centers grew especially close during their three years together on USC’s offensive line, a lifelong friendship forged out of a 4-8 nightmare season. They understood each other. By Neilon’s last season, in 2022, they spent most of their free time together too.

They talked at the time about a succession plan at the position, together sketching a scenario in which one each took the reins from the other. Dedich was the obvious next in line. But Monheim had never played the position at that point. His journey began as an introverted offensive tackle during USC’s COVID-shortened 2020 season. Three years later, he was still filling in on the edge, where he was most needed.

But all along, the friends kept their plan in mind. Even as one offensive line coach after another placed Monheim at tackle, the other two centers in the trio knew where he would end up. Knowing his mind like they did, it seemed so obvious. As far as Neilon and Dedich were concerned, Monheim was going to be the best center among them.

“It was already written,” Neilon said.

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Monheim could have left for the NFL after last season, throwing a wrench in the succession plan. He could have been a mid-round pick, learning the position on the fly during NFL offseason workouts and preseason training camp. He gave it serious thought. But he chose, instead, to return to USC, to walk in the footsteps of his two friends, to finish what he started.

“I only get one shot to potentially go to the next level,” Monheim said. “So I wanted to be as complete as I could before that happened.”

This week marks a crucial point on that path as Monheim leads the Trojans and their unproven offensive line into Ann Arbor, Mich., to tangle with one of the top defensive lines in college football. To take down the defending national champions, Monheim will have to clear the way.

“He’s our linchpin,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “There’s no question about that.”

When Ryan Huisenga first elevated Monheim to Moorpark High’s starting left tackle spot, his first instinct was to protect him.

He wasn’t sure how Monheim would adjust. He was a quiet kid. He kept mostly to himself around the older players. But when it came to physical tools, Monheim had everything a coach could ask for in a young lineman.

Monheim was sharper than any 15-year old lineman Huisenga had ever coached, and that put Huisenga at ease. By the end of Monheim’s sophomore season, he was adjusting Moorpark’s protections mid-game. Soon enough, Huisenga said, “it became like I was talking to one of my assistant coaches.”

It made sense that Monheim would wind up at center, a position that demanded a more cerebral approach. Even after he sprouted up to 6-foot-5 and one school after another lined up to get a look, he was still undersized compared with most other top prospects at tackle. When Oregon State’s staff told Huisenga that Monheim was too small to be a big-time lineman, Huisenga could only roll his eyes.

Bill Bedenbaugh, Oklahoma’s longtime offensive line coach, was one of the first to take serious interest. He saw a future for Monheim on the interior — and shared that enthusiasm with Riley, who was coaching at Oklahoma at the time.

The admiration was mutual. Monheim was close enough to committing to Oklahoma, Huisenga said, that his dad searched for real estate in Norman, Okla.

By that point, it became clear that with the right team and right coach, Monheim could make it to the league as an interior lineman. So he snapped at center during the summer to prepare him for the position his coaches thought he’d play in college.

But at USC, the center position was well stocked. Neilon had a full season under his belt, and Dedich had stepped in admirably as a redshirt freshman backup. So Monheim began at tackle, where the Trojans were thin. He was still there three years later.

“He’s such a smart guy and technically so sound that it’s easy to keep him at tackle and try to fix the other issues you may have,” Huisenga said.

It didn’t feel so seamless to Monheim. Not right away, at least. As a baby-faced freshman, it felt like he was barely treading water. The pandemic only made matters more difficult.

“Everything was so new,” Monheim said. “You’re just learning so much at such a fast pace that that’s pretty much all you’re doing.”

Like at Moorpark, it took him time to get comfortable. He didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes.

“We knew Jonah, but not really,” Dedich said. “He was reserved, trying to figure out his role. But that second year, we were like, ‘This guy is really smart.’ That’s when we realized how special of a guy he was.”

Monheim earned the starting job at right tackle ahead of that season. And in turn, he started hanging around more with the other players on the offensive line. To Neilon, he became the “little brother” of the group. The more comfortable they grew, the more Neilon messed with him.

Riley’s arrival in 2022 felt, to Monheim, like divine intervention. With a new coach in place, one he’d always wanted to play for, he took a major leap as a redshirt sophomore. Together with Neilon and Dedich on the right side of the line, their connection became almost telekinetic.

“We would just blink at each other and we’d know what was happening,” Dedich said.

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Off the field, the group was inseparable. Many nights they sang karaoke at Jacks N’ Joe, the all-day breakfast spot on campus, where no karaoke night was advertised, but the owner, a big USC fan, happened to have a karaoke machine. “It was a blast,” Neilon said. Most of the time, Dedich joked, it was Neilon “hogging the mic.”

Monheim was content, as the youngest of the five, to blend in. But that season, the rest of the line came to the conclusion he could be the best among them.

“We all knew he was a badass,” Neilon said. “But he kind of let us lead.”

Neilon, who tore his ACL in the Pac-12 title game, left after that season, and Dedich took the reins at center while Monheim switched to left tackle. With three new transfers next to them, the chemistry never clicked in the same way. Amid a season of tumult up front, Monheim became a steadying force. Even as he continued to play out of his preferred position.

“He never complained once,” Dedich said. “On paper, he has every disadvantage at tackle. But you watch the film, and it’s like, he’s always balling out.”

Josh Henson, USC’s offensive line coach, had always been honest with Monheim about his opportunity at the next level. So when the 2023 campaign ended and the NFL became a serious consideration, he talked to Monheim about finally moving to center.

“Maybe one of the most intelligent players I’ve ever had the opportunity to coach,” Henson said. “And really that was the conversation, where’s your future at? Because you’re talking about a guy, without the measurables over the last two years, who graded out second in the win percentage only to [Chargers rookie tackle] Joe Alt in the entire country. “

Dedich and Neilon tried to give him space to make the decision. But they both knew him well enough to have a hunch.

“He really loves USC,” Neilon said. “I think he also felt maybe a responsibility, as the older guy now in that room. So I think it would’ve been tough for him to go and hand that off. This is his moment, his time in the succession plan, and he’s in the driver’s seat for the O-line, and honestly the whole team.”

Neilon was in the crowd at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, as Monheim lined up at center in USC’s season opener against Louisiana State. The noise in the building was deafening — a nightmare for any new center leading a new-look line — but here was Monheim, calmly conducting the group and blowing LSU defensive linemen off the ball.

The two friends helped each other train the previous summer, as Neilon prepared for pro day and Monheim learned the finer points of playing center. During the game, it dawned on Neilon how much his friend had grown up since he first met him. He beamed like a proud older brother.

“He will always be little brother to all of us, with that baby face and the baby fat,” Neilon said. “But now you look at him, and he’s got a beard and a mustache, and you’re like, ‘That’s a leader. That’s a grown man.’”

In Montana, as they wandered Glacier National Park or sang “Landslide” in the car at the top of their lungs, they’d settled back into their usual dynamic. But at USC, this is Monheim’s show now, his chance to take the lead at the position he was meant to play.

The final step of their plan, Neilon could see, was finally coming together.

“We knew, a long time ago, that this was going to happen,” Neilon said.

But, Dedich said, “It’s pretty cool to see the plan come together.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.